The "business plan" is essential to the start of any company and can take many forms.
Black & White
Here we introduce the idea of "stage" and "topic" and the related idea of "colour-coding" which has become important over the last thirty years in corporate business planning.
Essentially, a business paper is either "black" or "white".
A white paper is a paper containing ideas. This could include ideas, explanation, explication, exploration, argument or proposal. White papers start with a concept document, followed by a feasibility study, and may include a formal business plan, a strategic plan, or a prospectus.
A black paper is legislation. It is the law. It follows a board decision, a vote, or an act of the AGM (annual general meeting) or SGM (special general meeting) or, say, an act of parliament, and must be strictly adhered to. It will stay alive until another black paper comes along to knock it off its perch. Any proposal to change a black paper will be white.
Two-colour coding systems
The two-colour coding system is used in government and non-government organisations, such as the UN, OECD, etc. Papers are colour-coded, depending upon "stage".
A green paper is contructed in the planning stage. It is a paper explaining a need for new ideas. It is seeking advice, ideas, techniques, methodology, history and plans for the future. This could include ideas, explanation, explication, exploration, argument or possible strategy. Green papers start with a concept document, but leave to the future the required activities and feasibility study and the resulting strategic plan, after all input from the stakeholders receiving the green paper have been considered. There may be more than one green paper to discuss the issues, before the formulation of a white paper.
A white paper is a paper for the legislative stage. The white paper is prepared for presentation to the decision-makers for approval. A white paper contains a real plan, a proposal, a bill, and a discussion of the need for and the likely results of adopting this strategy or bill. White papers start with the relevant concept document that gave rise to this proposal, followed by a feasibility study, and may include a formal business plan, a strategic plan, or a prospectus.
While the green paper might be prepared for or result from the committee session, the white paper is definitely prepared for the board, the legislative assembly or the plenary session. A white paper could be used to back up a loan from the bank or the commercial lender or venture capitalist.
Multi-colour coding systems
Another system using colour-coding is to take the discussion paper (the "green" paper in the two-colour coding system) and colour-code it depending upon "topic". For example, a discussion paper that concentrates on "our relationship to our environment" will be referred to as a green paper. A discussion paper that concentrates on "risk" will be referred to as a red paper. And so on.